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Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences
Assessment Of The Hemorheological Profile Of Koala And Echidna, Oguz Baskurt, Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik, Michael Pyne, Michael Simmonds, Ekua Brenu, Rhys Christy, Herbert Meiselman
Assessment Of The Hemorheological Profile Of Koala And Echidna, Oguz Baskurt, Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik, Michael Pyne, Michael Simmonds, Ekua Brenu, Rhys Christy, Herbert Meiselman
Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik
Koala, a marsupial, and echidna, a monotreme, are mammals native to Australia. Blood viscosity (62.5-1250 s-1), red blood cell (RBC) deformability, RBC aggregation, aggregability and surface charge, and hematological parameters were measured in blood samples from six koalas and six echidnas and compared to adult human blood. Koala had the largest RBC mean cell volume (107.7±2.6 fl) compared to echidna (81.3±2.6 fl) and humans (88.4±1.2 fl). Echidna blood exhibited the highest viscosity over the entire range of shear rates. Echidna RBC were significantly less deformable than koala RBC but more deformable than human RBC. Echidna RBC had significantly lower aggregability …
Haemorheology Of The Eastern Grey Kangaroo And The Tasmanian Devil, Michael Simmonds, Oguz Baskurt, Herbert Meiselman, Michael Pyne, Michael Kakanis, Ekua Brenu, James Keane, Rhys Christy, Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik
Haemorheology Of The Eastern Grey Kangaroo And The Tasmanian Devil, Michael Simmonds, Oguz Baskurt, Herbert Meiselman, Michael Pyne, Michael Kakanis, Ekua Brenu, James Keane, Rhys Christy, Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik
Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik
The blood of two Australian marsupials, the eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) and the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), has been reported to have greater oxygen-carrying capacity (i.e. haemoglobin content) when compared with that of placental mammals. We investigated whether alterations of blood rheological properties are associated with the increased oxygen-carrying capacity of these marsupials. Eastern grey kangaroos (n = 6) and Tasmanian devils (n = 4) were anaesthetised for blood sampling; human blood (n = 6) was also sampled for comparison. Laboratory measurements included blood and plasma viscosity, red blood cell (RBC) deformability, RBC aggregation and the intrinsic tendency of …